DOTSE JSC:-
The Plaintiff/Respondent/ Appellant (hereinafter Plaintiff) sued the
Defendants/Appellants/Respondents (hereinafter Defendants) for a
declaration of title to all that piece or parcel of land situate, lying
and being at Zuta and is bounded on the one side by the property
of the Agorve People; on the second side by the property of the
Agorta People; on the third side by the property of the Plaintiff
Family and on the last side by the property of the Korba Family,
damages for trespass, recovery of possession and Perpetual
injunction. The writ was filed on the 27th of May, 1992.
It is the Plaintiff's case that the Defendants' forebears were granted a
license to live and farm on the land in dispute and they abided by this
arrangement till recent times when the Plaintiff’s Awasiapedo Tsita Clan
realised that the Defendants had assumed the role of owners of the land
and were selling parcels of it. The Defendants were confronted about this
turn of affairs, they apologised and admitted they had erred and asked for
forgiveness.
Consequently, the Plaintiff and other principal members of the Family
decided to take action to secure the remaining land, which action was by
the issuance of a writ in the Circuit Court at Sogakope in the joint names of
the Plaintiff and Regent Kwawu Adzovor III. Having been improperly
influenced by consideration, Kwao Adzovor III filed a motion in the Circuit
Court, Sogakope, dissociating himself from the suit. The Plaintiff was
therefore compelled to discontinue the matter in Sogakope and file the writ
in the High Court in Ho.
In a statement of defence filed on the 11th of June 1992, the Defendants
denied all the averments of the Plaintiff. They challenged the capacity of
the Plaintiff to institute the action against them as he was not a paternal
member of the Tsita Clan of Korve, neither were there joint Heads of the
Tsita clan. The recognised and sole Head of the clan is Torgbui Kwao
Adzovor IV of Korve. It was the Defendants claim that a large tract of land
was founded by their ancestor Kwao Adzovor I and a portion of it was
gifted to their grandmother, Dzashiyor Agbeve over 400 years ago.
Dzashiyor they pleaded was a grand daughter of the founder of the land,
Togbui Kwao Adzovor.
They described themselves as the fourth generation owners of the land by
inheritance and had been in undisturbed possession till date. They denied
that they had ever paid tolls or tributes to the Plaintiff's all
